Bigotry Determined Webster’s New
World Dictionary defines “bigot” as “a person who holds blindly and
intolerantly to a particular creed, opinion, etc.” and “bigotry” as “the
behavior, attitude, or beliefs of a bigot.”

Police State Thomas Kachadurian’s column might get the facts right but misses the story.

Oppose The Shell Game Is this a
Shell Game? As a Democrat, I support increased taxes on motor fuels and
vehicles to provide funding for our transportation infrastructure.

Sugars On The Way Senator Patrick
Colbeck from Canton introduced a bill and the Senate passed it allowing
schools and Girl & Boy Scout troops to have up to 3 bake sales per
week.

The planting of Yoga Roots 3/28/11

The Planting of Yoga Roots: Tiffany Lenau has a lifelong commitment to yogaBy Kristi Kates The story of how Tiffany Lenaus Yoga Roots studio began, Lenau says, is amagical and miraculous story that has its own roots early in her life. Its also part of the path that led her to being named Best YogaInstructor for Emmet County/Petoskey by Express readers.Lenau, who began practicing yoga 19 years ago when she was a student atThe Leelanau School in Glen Arbor, says her first yoga class was it - anexperience that left her with a sense of peacefulness unlike anythingshed ever experienced.I felt like I was floating in a yoga bubble, and nothing or no one couldburst the sense of joy and love that I was encapsulated in, she explains.At that moment, I knew I would be practicing yoga for the rest of mylife.In the following years, Lenau sought out opportunities to practice withinstructors of many different yoga traditions as she traveled the world.While studying in New Zealand, she discovered Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga (alsoknown as power yoga) and says she fell in love instantly. She completedcollege, attended a 200-hour training session in California, and becamecertified to teach Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga. She returned to NorthernMichigan and began teaching in the Petoskey/Harbor Springs area.Today, she has spent half of her life deepening her love of the yogapractice. I feel very blessed to wake up every day and share the gift ofyoga, she says.Training new yoga teachers, which Lenau will soon also be certified for,is the next step in what she calls a ripple effect of creating consciouschange in her community and the world.Empowering others to teach will be my great accomplishment, Lenau smiles.

UNEXPECTED GIFTSWhile being part of her community and sharing her yoga knowledge withothers are two of the things that are most important in Lenaus life, shesays that opening Yoga Roots was not a conscious decision that she made;she didnt have a business plan, for starters, nor did she even plan onopening the studio at all.Lenau had just finished a nine-day intensive training session inmeditation and pranayama (breath work) when she returned home to NorthernMichigan with a new goal in mind - ending a relationship that she didntfeel was right for her. Her search for a new place to live provedchallenging; the only place she found was right above a pilates studio.The landlord had previously suggested that Lenau use the space as a yogastudio, but Lenau, in the middle of so many life changes, in school andworking, politely declined.She ended up taking the apartment, and became friends with the landlord,finding out that shed worked with his wife at college and had tutored hisdaughter - one of many coincidences that I ignored, she says - and evenmore pieces were about to fall into place.I had a client who was also a yoga teacher downstate, she says.Unfortunately her husband got into a ski accident, and she had to be hiscaretaker. She showed up at class one day and said she had to close herstudio as she was no longer planning to teach yoga, and she walked me tothe back of her car. I want to give you these things, she said. Sheopened her trunk, and there were mats, bolsters, blocks, tables, candleholders - about everything I needed to start a yoga studio. I wasfloored.Lenau took her fellow yoga teachers offerings, but still wasntfinancially able to start a studio; she was still in school, was waitingtables, and didnt know the first thing about business. The finalpieces, unbeknownst to Lenau, were still on the way.

STUDIO SIGNSI got a call from the man I had separated from, telling me Id leftbehind a box. It was an old metal lunch box I used to stash tipsin  the box had $480 in it. A couple of days later, my landlord calledme, she says, he had been thinking about the studio and wanted me tostart my business. He explained that his mother was a poor single mom andthat someone had once given her the chance to start a small business, andthat he wanted to do the same for me. He offered the space for free forthe first couple of months, putting Lenau on a graduated payment schedulethat would grow with her business. He even offered to help pay to have theplace painted and the carpets cleaned.Lenau clearly saw where she was supposed to go. She used the $480 to openan account, called on friends to help paint the space, and used a doodleof her own (the same tree with curly roots Id been drawing since I was achild, she says) as the Yoga Roots studio logo.By the time everything was ready, the studio was opened for business onNovember 13, 2007 -- my 30th birthday, she says. I never took out a loanfor the studio - it has been debt free since day one. For the first twoand a half years it was open I waited tables on weekends to supportmyself. In May of last year, when Yoga Roots (the business) could affordto pay me, I quit, and I am now a full-time yoga instructor and businessowner.

COMMUNITY SPACEGood news indeed for the many people who have adopted Lenau as their yogainstructor. Lenaus focus, dedication, and community interest are just afew of the likely reasons why she was named Best Yoga Instructor byExpress readers. The studio has expanded, and offers a variety ofadditional experiences and workshops from Acupuncture to Qi Gong.Yoga Roots is a sacred space where people of all ages and abilities cangain healing, peace, and presence, Lenau says. My vision with Yoga Rootswas community; creating community and giving back to community isimportant to me. I wanted it to be a place where people felt at home andcould come to heal. Today, Yoga Roots and Healing Arts is a talented crewof instructors, therapists, and practitioners, a supportive and talentedgroup of women who love what they do.I love what I do, too, she continues, and I feel so blessed that I havean abundance of what I have to share. For me, leaving a legacy of peaceand presence is my purpose in life.

Yoga Roots is located at 413 Howard St., Petoskey, MI, telephone231-838-8992; more information about the studio, Lenau, and her team maybe found atwww.yogarootspetoskey.com. Yoga Roots will also expand to a new locationthis summer to accommodate their increasing clientele; that space will beannounced soon.